'till level 20 or so it didn't make much difference. Just dpsed, but put points into the healing tree. Now I'm running out of steam that way.

 

At this point Mako should either tank or dps for me, while I heal her. Doesnt't really happen, though. I understand the next companion is due after Tatooine ... but that is nearly 10 more levels.

 

As a solider, you start with a dps companion, get a healer on Taris and a tank on Nar'Shaddaa. But as a Merc, its just Mako, or Mako.

 

What's the conventional wisdom on that?

Channel Fusion Missile, throw Explosive Dart, then take the next 1.5 seconds to waddle into melee range and use Flamethrower. Mix in Death From Above as necessary.

Channel Fusion Missile, throw Explosive Dart, then take the next 1.5 seconds to waddle into melee range and use Flamethrower. Mix in Death From Above as necessary.

 

Hmm... should I translate that as "forgo healing, act as your own barebones dps" and "with decent tactics, your standard damage skills should carry you to level 30".

 

Not a good way to learn healing - but, well, if its that what must be done.....

Hmm... should I translate that as "forgo healing, act as your own barebones dps" and "with decent tactics, your standard damage skills should carry you to level 30".

 

Not a good way to learn healing - but, well, if its that what must be done.....

 

Tatooine is hardly lvl30, if you are so desperate for a dps comp then rush through the class quest there pick up the comp and finish the whole planet with him

 

P.S: Also you can do awesome dps with SCG

Edited December 7, 2013 by cs_zoltan

Why would you be trying to heal before level 30 or so ?

 

Really your just making things painful for yourself no matter what toon your playing.

 

I don't find there's much point in trying to heal on any of the heal classes until you at least get your level 25 tree skill anyway.

Build up Supercharge and then use Power Shot and Unload to kill stuff (iirc SuperCharge reduces their heat cost to 0) Edited December 8, 2013 by cashogy_reborn

Its actually the best companion to get first. Other classes don't get a healer until later on and those initial levels can be slightly harder without healing as even an option.

 

Obviously you intend to play a healer, but it might be worth it to DPS while leveling up. I'd just put points into the heal cast time reduction (1st level bodyguard skill) and put the rest into DPS skills for the time being.

Dumb question: how are you supposed to level a healer merc .... with Mako?

 

Slowly. Very, very slowly.

 

Although, a good tip for running with Mako as pretty much any type of Bounty Hunter is to disable her Med Scan and Electro-Stasis, and keeping her in Blaster Stance. She'll be popping those squirt blasts every 4.5 seconds while tossing instant cast heals on the side.

'till level 20 or so it didn't make much difference. Just dpsed, but put points into the healing tree. Now I'm running out of steam that way.

 

At this point Mako should either tank or dps for me, while I heal her. Doesnt't really happen, though. I understand the next companion is due after Tatooine ... but that is nearly 10 more levels.

 

As a solider, you start with a dps companion, get a healer on Taris and a tank on Nar'Shaddaa. But as a Merc, its just Mako, or Mako.

 

What's the conventional wisdom on that?

 

Leveling as a healer will just burn you out of doing it.

buy field respec play heal for Groups, DPS for Solo. for solo any heal other then Kolto missile is unnecessary (that includes Mako )

If Possible get your HK unit through Legacy, remove the lvl50 droid parts and replace them with lower droid parts,

 

 

You can put those parts into your cargo hold until your lvl50 and re-equiped them

I wouldn't recommend actually even attempting to heal before 40, at least for me, I started to get more into flashpoints and PvPing, where healing was needed. I would recommend you take the Arsenal {Damage} branch. The next companion you'll get, assuming you only have Mako at the moment, is a ranged DPS. Just put skill points in the Arsenal branch until you reach that level where you get the new companion. Then you can switch to healer if you want.

 

But again, I wouldn't become a healer unless you're really attuned to warzones, flashpoints, or operations.

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i wouldnt even heal until after 50-55, then just do a big round of dailies as healer to get used to it.

I've leveled all my healers as healers. I feel it gives me a better handle on healing mechanics for those classes. And I don't have to spend the five minutes rearranging my quickbars after a respec, so, you know, that saves a bit of time.

 

The only healing class I haven't yet taken to 55 is merc, which I'm doing right now. I plan on leveling this guy as a healer too, despite having Mako as a comp right now. She seems to toss in some decent dps now and then, too. Yes, specing DPS would probably get me leveled a bit faster, but generally I'm at least 2-3 levels above the current class content, and well-geared, given that it's so quick to get a flashpoint queue pop for a healer. With the level advantage, dps'ing even as a healer becomes pretty easy. And with Mako healing me, I can just roll from one mob to the next without any downtime for recharge/reload.

 

I also pvp and play gsf, so all that extra XP makes it super easy to level.

I've leveled all my healers as healers. I feel it gives me a better handle on healing mechanics for those classes. And I don't have to spend the five minutes rearranging my quickbars after a respec, so, you know, that saves a bit of time.

 

The only healing class I haven't yet taken to 55 is merc, which I'm doing right now. I plan on leveling this guy as a healer too, despite having Mako as a comp right now. She seems to toss in some decent dps now and then, too. Yes, specing DPS would probably get me leveled a bit faster, but generally I'm at least 2-3 levels above the current class content, and well-geared, given that it's so quick to get a flashpoint queue pop for a healer. With the level advantage, dps'ing even as a healer becomes pretty easy. And with Mako healing me, I can just roll from one mob to the next without any downtime for recharge/reload.

 

I also pvp and play gsf, so all that extra XP makes it super easy to level.

 

As a Merc, i would highly reccomend buying Treek. Treek is a good enough tank to help you through till you get Blizz.

Honestly, I would go dps until you get your next companion and switch to heals when you get a few more useful abilities. It's good to learn how to heal with your class early on rather than making the switch at 55, but I think starting to heal in the mid to late 20s gives you a ton of time to get a grip on healing before you get to end game.

Build up Supercharge and then use Power Shot and Unload to kill stuff (iirc SuperCharge reduces their heat cost to 0)

 

Having rolled a lil' baby-HealMerc recently (Awwww, he's so cute ), I can corroborate: ^^This!^^

 

Incredibly useful and helpful. (It's very easy to overheat otherwise at low levels.)

 

Mako can DPS surprisingly well, too: Order her to attack first manually, and she'll always open with her big DoT, which immediately makes the target vulnerable to RailShot.

 

So, the fight (assuming Strong-or-higher primary --this is how I've been doing it, YMMV):

 

Build up SCG ---> Order Mako to attack primary ---> Explosive Dart---> Railshot ---> SCG ---> Kolto Missile for the shield on both of you ---> Unload + PowerShots until SCG expires ---> Rapid Shots to build SCG back up (with Rapid Scan for its charges as well if you've low heat and need a heal).

 

Yes, the "real" fights will take longer --although up till about level 20-ish, it makes little real difference, IME-- because you'll have to use Rapid Shots a lot more to keep from over-heating if you're also using your heals (which you should almost never need on trash).

 

But the upside is that you should never, ever die, unless you've bitten off waaaaaaaaay more than any solo player/companion can chew anyway, or if things go really badly pear-shaped (Example: Sudden lag-spike to 10k ping whilst trying to solo the local Champion:mad:).

Edited January 16, 2014 by midianlord